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Technical institutes see record enrollment

South Dakota’s four technical institutes have achieved another enrollment milestone, collectively topping the 6,200 mark this fall for the first time ever.
The technical institutes’ fall enrollment numbers have exceeded 6,000 students since 2010, despite a slight dip last year.
A total of 6,250 students are currently taking classes at the technical institutes. Enrollment in key workforce development areas such as manufacturing, business management and agriculture saw the biggest gains.
Two of the schools – Lake Area Technical Institute in Watertown and Southeast Technical Institute in Sioux Falls – set individual enrollment records this year, with 1,508 and 2,632 students respectively.
Mitchell Technical Institute’s enrollment grew slightly and was just shy of the student peak set two years ago. Western Dakota Technical Institute in Rapid City experienced a slight decline in numbers this year after rapid growth from 2009-2011, but its current enrollment is still ahead of the fall numbers from 2008-2009.
As a system, the four technical institutes have experienced a 24.7 percent growth rate since 2008-2009. This year’s enrollment figures were presented to the South Dakota Board of Education at its meeting last night.